TheSamba.com :: View topic - Awesome Powdercoat

Wed Jul 01, 2020 3:34 pm

Glenn wrote: doubledoor64 wrote: I had a terrible experience with Awesome Powdercoat. I am in this close to $500 and didn't even get a full set of tin. Let alone a quality job.

1..Packaging was terrible, mostly newspaper to package a fan shroud, cylinder tins, as well as front and rear tins.Fan shroud was damaged, 1 cylinder tin was bent.

2..overall powdercoat job was poor at best. Very thin in spots with original black coating showing through (see pics) One piece had a bleed through from some contamination (oil?)

3..I ordered silver and the silver pieces do not match he claims they were done with the same powder but there is an obvious difference.

4..Extremely poor welding done to fix venturi ring to fan shroud.

5. I paid for the rear pulley tin to be modified for a full flow oil return line. The hole was unfinished, had a huge burr and was powdercoated over.

6. I ordered new tin. The front (flywheel side) was a used and very pitted (but powdercoated :roll: ) piece. I expressed my disappointment about this and his answer was "I typically charge more for original so consider it an upgrade"

Overall communication is slow. He did offer that I could send it back but was never clear if I had to pay shipping. Overall very poor experience.

Similar experience on a customer's build. I told him it was a high dollar build. Paid to have the full flow fitting clearanced and got a giant hole in the tin. Sent the intake manifold so the tins could be trimmed... needed quite a bit of massaging to get them to fit and had to be careful not to crack the powder paint. Next time i'll use the local guy that did my tin and clearance everything myself.

I did sent some back and had to pay shipping.

This is how the tin should be done to clear the fitting.

Completely agree with every said above.

Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:20 pm

Hector wrote: I contacted Clark a few months ago and purchased a complete set of engine tins from him. I asked him for a set of tins "Ready" for paint out of the box and gave him the exact width of my engine to avoid any confusion as he requested. When the tins arrived at my door, they were packaged very well however the fan shroud was dented and a mounting screw was broken. (nothing that couldn't be repaired) When I mocked up the cylinder tin, they fit great. I then placed the fan shroud over the cylinder covers but could not get it to line up. I then moved the shroud in different positions, but it just didn't have that tight fit I was looking for. I then had to make modifications of my own to the shroud and cylinder covers to get it to my expectations. I asked Clark to modify the fan shroud to accept a type 4 oil cooler for greater cooling. The modification requires welding by extending the dog house. Although this part of the shroud is not visible when installed, I still expected clean and neat welds. I then installed the breast plate which also required shaving pieces off by the exhaust area. I then contacted Clark again and advised him that I was not happy with his products. He gladly agreed to refund me my money with a 15% restocking fee. I opted to do so because after shipping and the restocking fee, I would be better off keeping the tin. Clark offers great customer service, but lacks attention to detail which I paid for. I could of purchased the same tin from SCAT for a 1/3 of the purchase price from Clark. If your building a show car, I would not recommend Awesome Powdercoat..

I am starting to wonder if he has lost touch with what's important(craftsmanship) and is just in it for the money?

Wed Jul 08, 2020 5:47 am

doubledoor64 wrote: UPDATE:

Clark has been in contact. He offered to redo the job if I paid for shipping. I simply feel I shouldn't have to pay shipping to get the job I paid for. All I wanted was new tin that matched in color. I asked for a discount just so I could deal with getting the stuff recoated locally. He dodged the question. Also he has a claim in with fedex for the damaged shroud. Should I have to wait for him to be reimbursed? Or should he send out a shroud to take care of me and wait to be reimbursed. IMO it's not my fault his packing job was poor.

I would not expect much from Clark. My shop has a big banner that says "Professional's Take Pride In Their Work" He may be missing a sign. :lol:

Sat Aug 29, 2020 6:34 pm

I ordered a Hoover bit from Clark. It's a nice piece and fits perfectly on the oil cooler. Arrived quickly too. Not much else to say besides thanks for keeping these available.
Ray

Tue Dec 29, 2020 8:57 am

A shoutout to Clark and Awesome Powder Coat.
I brought my tins to him to refinish, They were in less than stellar condition. Old rattle can paint needed stripping and many random holes brazed and smoothed. They turned out great!
Here's an few finished pieces. Thanks Clark!

Thu Jan 28, 2021 4:47 pm

Bought a couple of Clark's hoover bits. They are beautiful. Came very fast too.

Wed Jan 12, 2022 3:03 pm

Buyer beware: Have purchased the 914 Thermostat, Cable, and Pulley (with hardware). No issues with these items or purchases, even though have yet to install, as all these items look to be in order.
The concern that I want to share is for my recent order to Clark for the Flaps Assembly.
Sub-par quality, including larger flap being distorted, rod being bowed, spotty finish in areas, etc. (I have high standards expectations admittedly). I compared what I received to multiple stock assemblies and it was clear to see what the original VW/Porsche quality looks like.
Clark did accept return and provided full refund (with a lot of restraint on my part not to engage in responding to his snarky pushback and questioning of my perspective of his work).
However, the concern I want to share is that I found Clark to have a very poor attitude and was very difficult.
He mistakenly sent me extra parts, which I sent back on my dime. Not one time did he thank me for my orders or for the return of extra parts.
Be aware of the Flaps Assembly quite possibly not being as good as advertised or shown in the ad's picture.
May turn out to be fine for you, but wasn't for me.
And, I expect you'll see an example of Clark's attitude in his response to my candid feedback (based on my experiences).
Thanks.
Tom

Tue Feb 08, 2022 7:22 am

Placed an order with Awesome Powdercoat for stock flaps and a thermostat on Monday, 1/24/2022. Clark Callis replied he had a couple of jobs ahead of mine and he'd send tracking info when they shipped. I thought it was a little odd that he didn't have stock parts ready to ship. Does he only do one set at a time? Eight days later I contacted him and he said he had a couple of jobs ahead of mine and he'd get to it next week (same story as first time). The next day (Thursday) I replied that I couldn't wait and asked for a refund. He replied back immediately that the parts were ready and he'd ship them Monday "after the storm". So, the parts that wouldn't be ready until at least next week were magically ready to ship the next day! I saw through that BS right away. I told Mr. Callis I couldn't wait and asked for a refund again. Here is his reply:
Quote: you cant wait unilt monday? i already made it, now you dont want it
good luck finding a good stat
It sure looks like Clark fibbed about the parts being ready so he wouldn't lose a sale, then proceeded to get a bad attitude because I had the nerve to ask for a refund when he couldn't ship stock parts in a timely manner. Avoid Awesome Powdercoat and Clark Callis.

Tue Feb 08, 2022 11:18 am

no, the parts really where ready, dont know why he could not wait for them to ship. so be it

Tue Feb 08, 2022 11:21 am

i have zero finished product inventory on hand, everything is custom made to order, so you got to wait for it to be built.

Tue Feb 08, 2022 11:22 am

volkaholic1 wrote: i have zero finished product inventory on hand, everything is custom made to order, so you got to wait for it to be built.

Sounds like a good business model. Good luck with that.

Thu Aug 25, 2022 8:26 am

Nightshift wrote: Save your money and go somewhere else. Paid up front. I was told the first time it would be 2 weeks, next it was I hurt my head, then I have to order the parts, your parts are next in line, then I have a big job in front of you. & weeks later(7) I get my parts and it looks like a high school shop student did the work. scratches, grind marks, welding is god awful, paid to have the the top head tins modified and the came unevenly trimmed. scratches, dust under coating. This is trash work from a company that lied to me over and over again. Air venturi added and not centered, no Hover mod I paid for. Helen Keller could have don a better job.

I pretty much agree with this. I just got my tins back, and the only way I can describe it is with the word "underwhelmed". The work is merely adequate. Nowhere close to what I was expecting. I have items powdercoated from another company for my work, so I know what high quality powdercoating looks like. I went with AP solely because of the fact that this business is geared at aircooled engines. I thought given that, that Clark would take extra care with the work that I wouldn't get from any local place that doesn't deal with these parts regularly, and because of that I was ok paying more than I otherwise would. I was wrong.

If the tins were cleaned or media blasted prior to powdercoating, it wasn't a very thorough job. There's still chunks of gunk on some of my tins, and that gunk is now encased in powdercoat. If media blasting the tins was supposed to be my responsibility, I was never made aware of this.

My breastplate tin, which has some dents and a crack at one of the fresh air holes was not straightened or repaired. I don't know any powdercoater or painter who isn't going to at least ask if I want a panel straightened and repaired beforehand, or simply do it regardless. Again, if this was my responsibility, I was not made aware of this.

The insulation in my heat riser covers was not removed prior to powdercoating. Again, if I was supposed to do this beforehand I was not made aware of this.

Packaging on the return shipment was quite poor with minimal bubble wrap that barely covered each piece. Numerous pieces have scratches on them due to this. And my sled tins (which were brand new from CIP1 and un-dented when I shipped them) have numerous dents and bent fastening tabs. I honestly am not sure if these are even my sled tins that I sent, because they appear to have spots of powdercoated gunk on them, which mine wouldn't have had since they were brand new.
Also, the shipping price he charged me was quite a bit more than what I paid to get it to him, and he re-used the box I sent him and used the same shipping service (UPS ground). Maybe he's not aware that he can get a UPS business account and get much better rates. Or maybe he does and still charges customers the retail shipping price.

The actual powdercoat is quite thin in places and unevenly applied. Again, I know what high quality powdercoating looks like from my job.

And I should have known from how difficult simply getting a quote was to begin with, that this is the quality of work I was going to get. It took 3 or 4 repeated attempts to get a correct quote. In every repeated email in the exchange I gave Clark a clearly defined, numbered list of which parts I wanted powdercoated and what I wanted done. Each time I got a quote back either with parts from my list that were missing, or additional parts or work added. After the 3rd or 4th missed attempt of being able to give me a quote for my concisely worded list, he finally told me to just edit the spreadsheet myself for what I want.

Next time I need this work done, I'll use my usual powdercoater and save some money.
And I have zero interest in engaging in any interaction with Clark again. I don't want anything from him. I only want people to know my experience.

Fri May 26, 2023 10:45 am

100% NEW thermostat flaps for 64 -67 early oil cooler fan shroud, will fit VW and aftermarket shrouds

For 159 USD + 18 USD shipment I was expeting an EXCELLENT JOB Made in USA, but as you can see in the pictures, the results is VERY BAD.
I'll have to re-paint by myself.

I wrote to Clark and we agreed a symbolic refound of 35 USD.

Anyway I'm UNHAPPY also becouse there is a problem with the flap shaft, is not correctly allined, and now I'm warry that during the using it will not work properly ...

Fri May 26, 2023 11:09 am

1st of all, those parts where fine when shipped, i can only assume harsh shipment, so i compenstated the guy, the flaps work fine, i build them in a fixture so i know they work.

Fri May 26, 2023 11:21 am

"harsh shipment" would broke some parts, not the paint that you can see in several points in bad conditions. One of the shaft flap is shorter that the others, so not too safe when it will work with vibration. In this picture you can see that the paint was bad from the beginning, not damaged during the shipment.

Fri May 26, 2023 11:39 am

For $160 '100% NEW thermostat flaps for 64-67 early oil cooler fan shroud', looks like they were made using some rusty scrap metal and hand cut with tin snips.

Fri May 26, 2023 11:50 am

DON'T BUY IT !

Wed Nov 01, 2023 5:39 pm

Older posts in this thread made me eager to get my tins from here, later posts made me nervous.

Just received my used German tins, and they are as I was told they would be. That is, not great. One was badly pitted, but I was told about this upfront. So, that I don't consider to be a negative. Clark was upfront about that and suggested the new ones they have available, I wanted the OG tins, and due to their age, I understand that they may not be perfect.

As to the negative, it's only minor. The coating was a little thin in one place, some bare metal peeking through. NBD, a spritz of paint over it and I'm good. Just not really the quality I expected for the price I paid.

Short story, I don't really have any complaints, I'd call it acceptable. And I'm still happy to support VW specific shops, I've been away from the scene for about 15 years, and I'm sad to see how many are gone.

Fri Nov 10, 2023 12:41 pm

Era Vulgaris wrote: Nightshift wrote: Save your money and go somewhere else. Paid up front. I was told the first time it would be 2 weeks, next it was I hurt my head, then I have to order the parts, your parts are next in line, then I have a big job in front of you. & weeks later(7) I get my parts and it looks like a high school shop student did the work. scratches, grind marks, welding is god awful, paid to have the the top head tins modified and the came unevenly trimmed. scratches, dust under coating. This is trash work from a company that lied to me over and over again. Air venturi added and not centered, no Hover mod I paid for. Helen Keller could have don a better job.

I pretty much agree with this. I just got my tins back, and the only way I can describe it is with the word "underwhelmed". The work is merely adequate. Nowhere close to what I was expecting. I have items powdercoated from another company for my work, so I know what high quality powdercoating looks like. I went with AP solely because of the fact that this business is geared at aircooled engines. I thought given that, that Clark would take extra care with the work that I wouldn't get from any local place that doesn't deal with these parts regularly, and because of that I was ok paying more than I otherwise would. I was wrong.

If the tins were cleaned or media blasted prior to powdercoating, it wasn't a very thorough job. There's still chunks of gunk on some of my tins, and that gunk is now encased in powdercoat. If media blasting the tins was supposed to be my responsibility, I was never made aware of this.

My breastplate tin, which has some dents and a crack at one of the fresh air holes was not straightened or repaired. I don't know any powdercoater or painter who isn't going to at least ask if I want a panel straightened and repaired beforehand, or simply do it regardless. Again, if this was my responsibility, I was not made aware of this.

The insulation in my heat riser covers was not removed prior to powdercoating. Again, if I was supposed to do this beforehand I was not made aware of this.

Packaging on the return shipment was quite poor with minimal bubble wrap that barely covered each piece. Numerous pieces have scratches on them due to this. And my sled tins (which were brand new from CIP1 and un-dented when I shipped them) have numerous dents and bent fastening tabs. I honestly am not sure if these are even my sled tins that I sent, because they appear to have spots of powdercoated gunk on them, which mine wouldn't have had since they were brand new.
Also, the shipping price he charged me was quite a bit more than what I paid to get it to him, and he re-used the box I sent him and used the same shipping service (UPS ground). Maybe he's not aware that he can get a UPS business account and get much better rates. Or maybe he does and still charges customers the retail shipping price.

The actual powdercoat is quite thin in places and unevenly applied. Again, I know what high quality powdercoating looks like from my job.

And I should have known from how difficult simply getting a quote was to begin with, that this is the quality of work I was going to get. It took 3 or 4 repeated attempts to get a correct quote. In every repeated email in the exchange I gave Clark a clearly defined, numbered list of which parts I wanted powdercoated and what I wanted done. Each time I got a quote back either with parts from my list that were missing, or additional parts or work added. After the 3rd or 4th missed attempt of being able to give me a quote for my concisely worded list, he finally told me to just edit the spreadsheet myself for what I want.

Next time I need this work done, I'll use my usual powdercoater and save some money.
And I have zero interest in engaging in any interaction with Clark again. I don't want anything from him. I only want people to know my experience.

So I just want to update this, since I've started assembling the tins onto my engine. The above pics from angry customers are on par with my experience as well. In the automotive paint world, we'd call this work a 10 footer. It looks ok from across the room, but when you get up close the details show really poor workmanship.

Anyway, one thing I didn't mention originally is that when I placed my order I decided to not have my cylinder tins powdercoated, and opted instead to buy Awesome Powdercoat's new cylinder tins. Clark makes all kinds of claims that they're better than original. You can find them here on the website:
https://www.awesomepowdercoat.com/ap-new-dual-port-cylinder-tins

What it doesn't tell you on the website is that the holes for the spark plugs are cut too high up, which makes it impossible to get a socket on the spark plug. I took these pics straight on so you can see that there isn't clearance for the socket to fit on the bottom sides of the plugs. All 4 are like this. I compared it to my original cylinder tins, and the holes are cut lower down on the original German tins so that the spark plug is more centered in the hole. I can't get these spark plugs out with this fucking AP tin on.

This is fucking absurd. I'm going to have to disassemble almost all the tin on my engine to get at my spark plugs. I am beyond furious. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS HACK.

Fri Nov 10, 2023 12:59 pm

Since I didn't share any pics before, I thought I'd show you all here on the Samba the quality of Clark's work.

Why remove the heat riser insulation, when you can just powdercoat over it?!
Now I can't get the insulation out to install new insulation without damaging the powdercoat layer. The fact that this was allowed to happen at all will tell you everything you need to know about the quality of the work you'll get from Awesome Powdercoat.
I mean, if you're a professional powdercoater, and you're prepping to powdercoat these parts with old insulation in them, how do you not just remove the old insulation? It's because you don't give a fuck, that's how. You take the money, and you don't give a fuck.